Interlude
Upper School Main Building, Classroom 2-C

The first day of the new year; most of the class had arrived already and were around their seats talking about their summer break.  Jack and Kai were discussing the latest rumor.

“I hear we're getting a couple of new students,” said Jack.

“Girls?” asked Kai.

“With our luck, not just guys but ones who are going to get all the girls.”

Just then Amy Lee startled Jack with a pat on both shoulders. After he settled down, she borrowed the desk next to him and told them "Neither girls nor any particular risk of getting all of them from what I hear."

"How do you know?" asked Jack.

"One of the seniors on track told me what she saw on Saturday,” said Amy.  “Two guys about our age and their families went into the admin building and afterwards got a tour.  She said they seemed ‘pretty normal’"

“Oh well,” said Kai.

"You two can't get any of the girls here, why would transfer students be any different?”

Their curiosity was short-lived, as two young men came in, escorted by one of the assistant deans, and instead of finding free desks looked a bit confused.  Amy looked at both; other than being white guys with dark hair, they were a mismatched pair.  One was close to six feet tall and athletic, with a well-fitting uniform.  The other was middling in height -- looking downright short next to the other -- and with a uniform that looked a bit oversized on him and hid any sign of his build.  Where the first had an open smile and was blandly handsome, the second had more of a nervous look about him.

Both had silver pins, so they must have scored very well on the entrance exams and earned a full scholarship that way.  Not that surprising; the school only admitted a few new students in their second year, and neither one looked like the child of a VIP who would get in through their parents’ connections.  However, she did not recognize the pattern -- most students entitled to a pin wore a symbol of their nationality.  Most, of course, wore the dragon of Feldaren, and she thought she'd seen them for all the old alliance countries.  This flattened bird was new to her.